Incapable of a verbal reply, I nodded – vigorously, so there was no possibility of being misunderstood. I didn’t want to be disappeared.
‘Good,’ she said with a warm smile.
It was near-impossible to keep up with the many facets of Trudy, which was rather terrifying. And I’d thought we were becomingfriends.
She slapped her hands onto her thighs, then stood. ‘Great work,’ she said, patting Tommy on the back as she passed by. ‘I’ll go find Dale and Julian, then we can get the hell outta here.’
When she was gone, Tommy looked over, his mouth stretching into a thin line – not quite a smile.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘For helping Julian.’
He shrugged off my thanks. ‘Trudy wouldn’t have agreed if it didn’t suit our purposes. And with Julian as an informant from the start, building the case against Kovalec should go smoothly.’
Informant. Julian had beensoclose to ending up in custody with Kovalec. It was horrifying even as a thought experiment, so I ousted the idea entirely. No sense in dwelling on hypotheticals.
Tommy’s gaze dropped to my supper. ‘Is that…?’
‘It is, yes.’
‘Could I possibly…?’ he asked, looking at me with pleading eyes.
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ I replied with a soft laugh.
I handed him the uneaten half, and he sat beside me. ‘Thank you. I haven’t eaten since lunchtime and that was a protein bar.’
He took a big bite, staring out at the view, and I watched his profile for a moment. He truly was the most beautiful man.
Will he ever be mine again?
As if he’d read my mind, he looked over and smiled, and my insides turned molten.
Then I took a bite of my half, and we sat together in companionable silence, our knees almost touching, munching on what had been our favourite sandwich, especially on wintry Sunday mornings.
22
Thought of the day…
Some relationships are irredeemable.
Don’t kid yourself, just walk away.
(Or fly, drive, scoot, skip, or scuttle away – just get out of there.)
The ride back to Aetheria was silent, save for the noise of the helicopter’s rotor.
Julian sat beside me, pale-faced, his fingers worrying as if he were rolling something between them. A minute or two into the flight, I couldn’t bear it and reached over, laying my hand on top his to still them. He captured it between his and squeezed tightly, then glanced my way. The panic in his eyes was startling. I’d never seen Julian like that.
‘You okay?’ I mouthed.
He faked a smile and gave me a reassuring nod – only it wasn’t reassuring. And what had Trudy and Dale told him about me – about how much I knew?
I looked across at them. Trudy’s head was on Dale’s shoulder, her eyes shut. It must have been exhausting running a months-long international operation, let alone acting the role of a jovial retiree with a penchant for girl talk.
If I hadn’t witnessed it first-hand – her transformation from my gal pal Trudy to Jane Bond super spy – there was no way I would have believed it.
And how much of my experience on Aetheria had been part of the ruse? It was clear that every interaction with Trudy and Dale had been –andElsa – but what about Tommy?
He was sitting beside Dale, his face set in a frown as he stared out the window. I would have given anything to know what he was thinking.
